


Sides

by helsinkibaby



Category: The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Angst, Community: comment_fic, Dark Cisco, Established Relationship, F/M, Het, Rare Pair, Romance, Safe if you've seen up to episode 8 I think, Some speculation based on things from episodes, season three spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-21
Updated: 2017-01-21
Packaged: 2018-09-19 02:21:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,147
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9413618
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/helsinkibaby/pseuds/helsinkibaby
Summary: Standing in a forest clearing, Cisco on one side, Caitlin on the other, Joe has to pick a side.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Theme : heroes  
> Prompt : The Flash, Caitlin Snow/Joe West, Caitlin wins against her dark side.  
> http://comment-fic.livejournal.com/786885.html?thread=101788101#t101788101

The forest was dark, the wind rustling through the leaves making for a spooky counterpoint against the shockwaves of sonic booms and the whispers of ice daggers flying through the air. Caitlin kept her body bent low as she moved through the trees, grimacing at the ache in her back, her knees, knowing they were nothing compared to the ache in her heart. She was no stranger to loss - her dad, her mother, Ronnie, Jay - but somehow, this one hurt more than any of them. 

There was a sound up ahead, a heavy footfall like someone was running and she acted on instinct, hurled an ice dagger and cursed as it hit a tree trunk with a satisfying thunk. Or, it would be satisfying if that had been her mark. As it was, a laugh, harsh and terrible and familiar yet not, rang out. 

"Try harder," it mocked. "Oh, but you can't, can you?" There was a pause where Caitlin felt her nails digging into her palms. "Not without letting Killer Frost out to play..."

He was using her worst fears against her. Rage surged up in her like a tidal wave as mists rose from her hands and her eyes burned. She didn't think, stepped into the clearing. "Say that to my face," she challenged and lo and behold, he accepted. 

Cisco stood about twenty feet away from her, a cruel twist to his lips, his eyes obscured by his visor. Which made it easier, somehow, made him less like the Cisco she knew. 

But still close enough that this hurt like hell. 

"Well, well, well..." Cisco chuckled again. "Looks like Catie doesn't live here anymore." He dodged the dagger she threw at him easily, laughed horribly. "Hello, Killer Frost." 

Caitlin swallowed hard at the hated nickname, feeling once more the cold and rage of her alter ego beginning to swallow her up. She raised her hand, saw Cisco lift his...

And she stopped. 

Took a deep breath and forced the rage down. 

"You don't have to do this." Her voice was normal again, though her eyes still burned. "We can help you." 

"Team Flash?" There were worlds of scorn in his voice. "I don't want your help." 

His hand moved in a sweep she knew all too well and she ducked and rolled out of the way just in time, not too shabbily for someone who'd come within an ace of failing high school gym. Scrambling to her feet, she raised her hands, ready to defend herself when there was a noise to her right, footsteps coming towards them. Her head whipped around and she saw Cisco doing the same as Joe entered the clearing, breathing hard, gun at the ready. 

He took one look at Caitlin and levelled it at her and he didn't blink. "Don't move."

"Joe..." Caitlin held up her hands instinctively. Joe and the others, they didn't know what she knew, what she'd kept from them until she was sure. She'd once said that in science they didn't keep secrets, she suddenly wished she'd followed her own advice. She knew how this looked. 

"Thank God you're here." Cisco's voice was back to normal and he took a step towards Joe. "It was Caitlin all along... Killer Frost and she fooled us all..."

"No." Caitlin made to move but Joe's gun raised just enough that she stayed still. "Joe, no, you can't trust him... he's Savitar, he did all of this..." 

"Look at her eyes." Joe glanced at Cisco, then back to Caitlin. "Snow white... Do they look like Caitlin's eyes to you?" 

Joe looked at her, looked hard. 

And swung his gun around to point at Cisco, taking two large steps in Caitlin's direction. "Actually, yes." His jaw set firm as his eyes narrowed and Caitlin knew he was thinking about Iris, about the danger she was in. "Hands up."

She was so busy looking at him that she almost missed Cisco pursing his lips, tilting his head. "Too bad," he said and that mocking lilt was back again. "For you." He raised his hands and Caitlin knew what was coming, because she'd trained with Cisco, she knew his tells. 

"No," she shouted, moving faster than she'd thought she could, waving her arm and projecting a wall of ice between her and Joe and Cisco. It didn't stand a chance against Cisco's sonic boom, shattering into a thousand tiny pieces, but it absorbed the worst of the impact. Not all of it - Caitlin and Joe were still sent flying, landing heavily on the forest floor, but when Caitlin managed to sit up, saw an empty space where Cisco had been standing, she knew they'd got off easy. 

Sort of. 

A terrible groan came from beside her and her head whipped around towards Joe. Before she knew what she was doing, she was crawling over to him, her hands roving over his body, checking for a pulse, for broken limbs. The sight of his eyes blinking up at her was the best one she'd seen that night and she felt a lump rising in her throat. 

"Are you ok?"

He nodded, let her help him sit up. "Aside from the little cartoon birds, you mean?" he asked and the noise she made was somewhere between a laugh and a sob. He looked alarmed and she realised how he might have interpreted that. "Did he hurt you?" 

She shook her head. "Not physically." She let out a shaky breath. "Joe... how did you know?" 

"Your eyes." Against all odds, even after what they'd seen, Joe's smile turned soft. "I looked in them... Not at them." 

Caitlin blinked, knowing they were their usual colour now, but remembering the burn she'd felt earlier, the sensation that meant her eyes were white. "But they were her eyes," she protested and he chuckled, his hand warm as it touched her cheek. 

"Sweetheart, I've seen your eyes when you're Caitlin. I've seen them when they're Killer Frost." His thumb swept up and down her cheek and she willed herself not to cry. "Brown or white, I have no trouble telling the difference." 

Which was good for another sob from her and she leaned into him, wrapped her arms around him and let herself give in to the sensation of being safe, of being loved. 

But only for a moment - the luxury of time was not one they had. 

"We need to tell the others," she said when she straightened up and he was on his feet in an instant, picking his gun up off the ground, pulling his cell phone from his pocket. 

"My car's not far," he said. "We'll call Iris on the way." 

Caitlin nodded and, hand in hand, they made their way out of the forest and back to STAR Labs, knowing that, while this battle might be over, the war was far from won.


End file.
